he was the clinton and george w. specialinistrations' envoy for afghanistan, kosovo, bosnia, haiti and somalia. spots, he hit them all. him in thes involved withdrawal of u.s. forces from somalia, the american-led in turn mention -- intervention in haiti, the stabilization of bosnia and the nato intervention in cozumel. he is truly a man for all seasons and a good friend. after september 11, 2001, ambassador dobbins was appointed as the bush administration's representative to the afghan opposition with the task of putting together a broadly-based successor to the ousted taliban regime. he represented the united states at the bonn conference to establish the new afghan government. on december 16, 2001, he raised the flag over the newly reopened u.s. embassy in kabul. i can't think of a better person to be entrusted with guiding u.s. policy through the challenges and opportunities of the political insecurity transition and afghanistan. ambassador dobbins. [applause] >> thank you very much, steve. thanks to usip and the